1958-1959 — Page 23

Government for development by the Authority, pending negotiations with regard to land premium and the drawing up of plans for its development. Sites are frequently occupied by squatters, and their clearance by the Resettlement Department (which has been found most helpful and co-operative in this respect) is often a lengthy business.

49. As most of the vacant sites near the centres of employment are developed, either privately or by the Authority, it is now necessary to look further afield, and there is no doubt that in the very near future it will be essential to pay much closer attention to sites available in the New Territories.

VISITORS

50. On 13th August, 1958, His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, K.C.M.G., O.B.E., paid a visit to the offices of the Authority. Subsequently, accompanied by the Chairman, the Commissioner for Housing, the Chief Housing Manager, and the Secretary, he visited Sai Wan Chuen and the North Point Estate, (see Figs. 1, 2 and 3) where members of the Authority were presented, and work in progress inspected. While at Sai Wan Chuen Sir Robert gave an interview to a B.B.C. television unit; this was subsequently broadcast from London in the programme "Tonight'.

51. In December, 1958, the Authority's estates, as well as a number of other housing projects, tenements, etc., were visited by a delegation of the U.K. Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, consisting of the Rt. Hon. R. H. Turton, M.C., M.P., Conservative Member for Thirsk and Malton; Mr. Hervey Rhodes, D.F.C., M.P., Labour Member for Ashton-under-Lyne; Lord Rea, O.B.E., Leader of of the Liberal Peers in the House of Lords; Mr. A. Green, M.P., Conservative Member for Preston; and Mr. S. Irving, M.P., Labour Member for Dartford.

52. Other distinguished visitors to the Authority's estates during the period under review included Mr. W. I. J. Wallace, C.M.G., O.B.E., Assistant Under Secretary of State; Mr. Peter Thorneycroft, M.P.; Dr. Charles Hill, M.P., Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; Mr. J. M. Fraser, C.B.E., ex-Chairman of the Singapore Improvement Trust; Mr. G. B. W. Harrison, the United Kingdom Trade Commissioner; Sir Beverley Baxter, M.P.; and Mr. C. B. Patel, Chief of the Housing Section of E.C.A.F.E.

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